Improvement in hats



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM E. DOUBLEDAY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEM ENT I N HATS.

Specificai ion forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,284, dated August 26, 1862.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. DOUBLE- DAY, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented, made, and applied to use a certain new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Hats; and 1 do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the said invention and of the differences between my mode of manufacture and those methods that have proceeded it.

Hats have heretofore been pressed between dies and made of various material, such as felt cloth, woolen cloth, and felted hat cones or bodies. These have generally been pressed and ironed by hand on a block; but male and female dies have been extensively employed for pressing such hats. In these instances the one die is of the shape desired for the interior of the hat,.and upon that is placed the material from which the hat is to be formed, and then the other die is brought down upon said material to press the same. The die that forms the exterior of the hat,in other words, irons the fabric down to the inner die, and on the sides of the hat in particular, slides along on the surface of the fabric giving it a glazed appearance on the parts where the most pressure has rested and where said die has acted to iron the fabric. Besides this, the material is by the operation of the outer die drawn tightly over the crown of the inner die, which makes the surface of the hat rough in places, because of the inequalities in the fabric; or, in other words, the operation of pressing hats between dies tends to make any imperfections show on the outside, while the inside of the hat next the block or male die is smooth and handsome in appearance. It is not glazed by the sliding motion of the heated die, and any imperfections in the texture are not apparent, because the fabric draws tightly to the surface of said inner die.

The nature of my said invention consists in reversing the surfaces after the hat has been pressed, whereby the uninjured interior surface becomes the outside of the hat and the surface that had been injured in appearance by the action of the female die is made the interior of the hat, thereby the handsome appearance of the article is very much improved, and with very little trouble or labor. To effect this object the goods are pressed, as usual, between the dies. The workman then raises the upper die, lifts off the hat, and turns it inside out, andkither replaces it on the former-die and gives a slight pressure to fully set the hat in shape or places it upon a properly-shaped block to cool and stiffen or to more fully dry, according to the character of sizing employed.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A hat manufactured, as herein specified, by inverting the surfaces after they have been shaped between the heated dies, as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature this 1st day of July, 1862.

WILLIAM E. DOUBLEDAY. 

